Concours Général Agricole: Awarding Excellence in Agriculture

Summary

• Everything about the General Agricultural Competition
• The General Agricultural Competition for Products and Wines
• The General Agricultural Animal Competition for young professionals
• The General Competition for Animals
• Download the ring schedules
• Live from the rings

Let's discover the various categories of this year’s General Agricultural Competition

It serves as a unique launching pad for local products, dairy products and wines, and a showcase for the excellent qualities of French breeding. Candidates participating in the General Agricultural Competition benefit by acquiring more legitimacy within their profession and in the eyes of the general public.

It also raises awareness and singles out up-and-coming young professionals who are committed to agriculture.

Competitions include prizes for the best wine tasters and best livestock judges for students from agricultural schools. 

A standard-setting event and guarantee quality !

The products are submitted to a panel made up of professionals from the sector, producers, members of the food and wine trades, merchants, distributors and knowledgeable consumers.

Prizes are awarded on the basis of sensory characteristics and taste. Included in the local products category are slaughtered poultry, poultry pieces, foie gras, dairy products, olive oil products, nut oils, honey products, Espelette chili peppers, vanilla, brandies, fortified wines, pommeau and apple brandy, oysters, smoked trout, fruit juices, apple and pear ciders, beers, rums and punches, aperitifs, cured meats, sausages jams and saffron. 

Two new categories make their appearance for the first time this year: beef and French whiskey.

The Wine Competition

All French wines in every price range are represented at the General Agricultural Competition. Samples are submitted for assessment by an expert panel (sommeliers, oenologists, wholesalers, producers, brokers, etc.) and knowledgeable consumers who are recognised for their sound and dependable verdicts.

And the medals awarded to the wines during the GAC are seen as a much sought-after passport to the export market. Each year 16,000 samples are entered into the competition, starting with heats organised locally by France's regions, chambers of agriculture and farmers’ unions, and culminating in the final, which takes place within the framework of the Paris International Agricultural Show. 

Just 55% of the wines entered go through to the final, where tasting is overseen by representatives from the Ministry for Agriculture, Agrifoods and Forestry.

The General Agricultural Competition was also set up to promote teaching about farming

With this in mind, it organises two specific events:

• The Young People's Animal Judging Competition (CJAJ)
• The European Competition for Young Professionals in the Wine Sector (CJPV).

These are both European competitions. The CJPV is open to students studying farming, hotelery and business, as well as young professionals – people who have recently set up as farmers or wine producers.

The young people's animal judging competition

In this competition, young students from agricultural schools or recently established young farmers are judged on their aptitude for scoring the qualities of cattle, sheep, goats, draught horses and riding horses.

Candidates judge animals using a set of criteria:

• Body characteristics,
• Corpulence,
• Musculature,
• Specific body parts,
• Stand,
• Gait,
• Animal's general appearance.

The purpose of this competition

Raise young people’s awareness of the importance of the physical characteristics of breeding animals,

Encourage professional training in this area by breeding organisations, agricultural schools, technical institutes and regional breeding establishments.

Following these regional heats and the national finals (which are held in Paris during the Agricultural Show), awards are presented.

Aims

• Showcase dairy or suckling cow rearing at the teaching farms of agricultural schools,
• Highlight the work done by secondary schools in training pupils in the field of animal genetics,
• Strengthen the partnership between teaching and professionals,
• Help create a modern image of cattle rearing.

This competition is jointly organised by the magazine L’Eleveur Laitier, La France Agricole and the Paris International Agricultural Show.

The European Competition for Young Professionals in the Wine Sector

This competition showcases the wine-tasting skills of future young professionals in the wine sector.

Aims:

• Raise young people’s awareness of the importance of tasting in their line of work,
• Encourage professional training in this area.

After the regional heats and the national finals (which are held during the Paris International Agricultural Show), the awards are presented.

For further information, visit the General Agricultural Competition's website

Eight animal species are represented at the Concours Général Agricole.

Donkeys, Cattle, Canines, Goats, Horses, Sheep, Pigs and Cats. We find on this national competition which also fascinates the general public:

• 387 breeds,
• 2,142 animals represented
• 939 laureates* 

The eagerly-awaited animal competition is a key attraction at the Paris International Agricultural Show. The finest specimens are paraded in the arenas before a highly critical general public every year. 

*Data from the 2024 edition